Is Peace Hopeless? Pray Anyway.

The news from Gaza dominates the headlines here in the United States, as it should. After all, we are involved in this news. Our tax dollars support Israel and the policies of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. As Americans we follow the news and consume media coverage. We see pictures of a grieving father holding his dead child, or Israel’s missile shield, called the Iron Dome. We read of explosions and dust and tanks. We hear radio reports of troops ready to deploy. There is cursory talk of a ceasefire. It seems hopeless.

Would you join with me in praying for peace, no matter how hopeless it seems?

This Holy Land, this cradle of three Abrahamic faiths, includes both Israel and Palestine. We cannot tell ourselves that one is right and the other wrong. We cannot pretend that one side is more aggrieved than the other. Our political talk slices and dices words, and peoples, along national lines, even when the Palestinians are not given the dignity of a nation. Perhaps you feel as I do: How can I know enough? Yet how much do we need to know? There can be no doubt that there are two peoples warring with each other, and that the battle lines are deep, and dug deeper with each generation.

Right now, November 19, 2012, the world is watching as the lines go deeper still.

Would you join with me in praying for peace in Palestine and Israel?

About Ruth Everhart

I'm a writer and Presbyterian pastor.
"Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land" takes the reader to Israel/Palestine on a pilgrimage.
My upcoming book is a memoir which describes a brutal sexual assault I endured during college and its spiritual and emotional impact. Available fall 2016.